HyperX Armada 27 Review

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

Look what the mailman bought in today, a HyperX monitor! iLL has been reviewing HyperX products since way back; 2014, to be more precise. It has been a while since we reviewed our last HyperX product, and considering the history we’ve had with the brands exciting products, a HyperX monitors sounds fun. HyperX has stuck around, dishing out one product after another that has won consumers’ hearts. They are particularly known for their gaming headsets.

HyperX for the first time has ventured into Gaming Monitors. Yes, the Armada is HyperX’s first-ever line-up of monitors. Currently the series has two displays, the Aramada 24 and Armada 27. Display manufacturers are a handful, so having a new player who has been generally in the habit of launching exciting, is an exhilarating prospect that excites iLLGaming. Which is why iLL jumped at the first opportunity to test out the HyperX Armada 27 monitor. There’s more to this monitor than just its “HyperX” brand, though, and thou the reader shall find out soon. One conclusion is evident, HyperX has successfully added a stellar monitor lineup, its first ever one at that.

The HyperX Armada 27 Monitor – A Unique Proposition That Stands Out

The HyperX Armada 27 has a unique proposition, which is, its “mounting” form factor rather than a tabletop one. This is a monitor that can only be mounted, and not “placed” on a desk or table. All mounting hardware is included in the package, whether you’re wall mounting or table mounting. If you don’t have a usable edge for the mount, HyperX has included another mount that needs just a drilled hole. Mounted displays are a first time for iLLGaming, we have had no previous experience with mounted monitors, and boy, this has been a refreshing, discovery. One thing is for sure, mounted displays rock! If implemented well, which is definitely the case with the engineering of the Armada 27’s mounting system, screen mounting is a boon to your system’s versatility. There is just so much you can do with it.

One thing is for sure, mounted displays rock!

See, we agree that the Armada 27 isn’t the only mounting mechanism display in the market, but, considering the segment and price the Armada 27 is targeting, and most importantly, the ease-of-use, you might as well call the Armada the “only one” in its category.

Why Mount a Monitor?

A mounted monitor offers a bunch of benefits over a tabletop monitor. The first and the most evident one being the extra real estate you avoid losing to the monitor’s base. Just have a monitor mounted to your table, and you will realize how much more spacious your table looks. You gain legit space that is usable in many productive ways. And a tech-ninja’s table real estate is just never enough, no matter how much of it is being offered. The question here is, are you really the tech-ninja you think you are?

Second major benefit of mounting a monitor is the convenience of positioning. I could bring the mounted-arm all the way forward, even further from the edge of my table, and sit back and enjoy gaming on my couch. Time to work? No problem, swing it right back and you’re good to go. You can align the HyperX Armada 27 vertically or horizontally on the fly, without the need for any extra tools or mounts. Vertical alignment is great for watching Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts on a big display. There are even some excellent top-down games. Try using Microsoft Word on a vertical display, you will understand what I’m talking about. It’s almost like you have the biggest mobile phone screen – because it can be aligned any way you like, think about it.

Last, but definitely not least, is the looks. The HyperX Armada 27 looks absolutely stunning. It actually looks two segments above of what it is priced, kissing the luxury category. The bezels are extremely thin, and the monitor is built really well. With the included mount, you get a very minimal, tech-ninja-esque aesthetic that blends well with any kind of interiors you might have. If not a tech-ninja, then what kind of a ninja are you?

It’s almost like you have the biggest mobile phone screen – because it can be aligned any way you like, think about it.

A bonus advantage is that a single HyperX Armada 27 mounting system can take in four Armada 27s on a single mount, with each monitor having an arm of its own. You can then align the four screens for a sick looking 4-monitor setup. The thin bezels add to the allure of using the Armada 27 in a multi-monitor setup.

Build Quality

Unboxing the HyperX Armada 27 reveals a very convenient and well-thought-out layout of components. Since this is not a simple monitor, it takes attention to detail to place the plethora of mounting hardware in an easy and convenient way, and HyperX has done a good job at that. Things are stacked neatly into their own compartments, making for easy stashing and de-stashing into the box.

The moment you lift up the mounting hardware one-by-one in your bare hands, you will notice that they have a significant weight to them. They ought to, after all, they’re meant to hold your worthy expensive hardware. Every item is made of heavy steel: the table clamp, the main rod, the arm, and the pivot. From the quality of materials used to the engineering of the mount, exceptional is one word to describe it. The main arm has cable routers for your HDMI/DP and power cable. The router guides your cables from the screen to your PC via the arm. This helps in cable-management and achieving a “cable-less” look from viewed front the front.

From the quality of materials used to the engineering of the mount, exceptional is one word to describe it.

Mounting is extremely easy. It took me a sum total of ten minutes to mount the monitor and get it up and running. After all pieces were put together in their respective places, the monitor felt stable and secure, no matter how much I tilted, pushed, pulled, lifted, or rotated the screen. The cable routers did their job. Add to that, movement of the arm yielded no creaks or squeaks whatsoever. That is what we mean by good engineering, since there are many moving parts in this system. The good thing is that HyperX has provided a long 4-meter DisplayPort cable, red in colour. The long cable length adds to the free movement of the monitor.

Speaking of the display unit itself, it is built tight and strong with no flexes. It has two buttons located on the back of the right side. One button is for on-off operation and the other is a mini-joystick to access and move around the monitor settings OSD. Both the buttons are of high quality and feel tactile to use. I somehow accidentally push the power button when moving the monitor, maybe I just need to get used to the button’s position.

Features

To summarise the feature set of the HyperX Armada 27: just about everything you need and nothing that you don’t need. It still goes without saying that the Armada 27 is a high-performance monitor, offering the best in its segment. You have to let go of certain features which we feel were never that necessary in the first place. This is a display that has its fundamentals sorted without any useless features (we’re looking at you, RGB lighting), and we’re fans of that kind of thinking. All utilitarian, no gimmicks.

This is a QHD monitor supporting a resolution of 1440p, an impressive response time of 1ms, and a refresh rate of 165Hz, a rather uncommon number. At 27 inches, a QHD display has enough pixel density to make things look sharp and detailed. Add to that HDR 400 and Nvidia G-Sync, and you have the fundamentals of the HyperX Armada 27 sorted. What more does it offer? Well, nothing really, but does it even matter? Do you even NEED anything else? When I think of the HyperX Armada 27 from a gaming perspective, it ticks all the boxes, the same way it does for productivity and content consumption.

Since the Armada 27 is aimed at gamers, including speakers in the monitor is redundant. Gamers use either headphones or bookshelf speakers, since most monitor in-built speakers are crap. A USB passthrough sounds nice, but considering that this is a monitor with an arm, it just doesn’t make sense. A gazillion online reviews of the Armada 27 point out its lack of a USB passthrough and in-built speakers, I get the feeling they’re reviewing products by just looking at the spec sheet and not really understand the methodology of a product.

There is one somewhat glaring omission though: input ports, or the lack of it. All you get are two HDMI 2.0 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 port. No HDMI 2.1 means you have to rule out 120fps gaming on PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. A Thunderbolt port would have been nice too. No Thunderbolt input means I cannot use my MacBook M1 Pro in clamshell mode at 120 fps. I’ll have to convert from USB-C to DP, which results in loss of signal.

Performance

A QHD display with 1ms response time and 165Hz refresh rate means you get snappy performance in-and-out. Windows look great. Games look great, especially with HDR enabled. This isn’t an OLED display, so no HDR 1000, but the HDR 400 performs great. Surprisingly though, the Armada 27 has really amazing blacks, a pretty uncommon thing for panels of this kind.

We tried the HDR in GTA V, Doom Eternal, and Tekken 8. The immersive experience that HDR enables is just so worth it and makes it impossible to go back to non-HDR displays. 1ms response time makes the HyperX Armada 27 a legit competitive monitor. Dota 2 and Overwatch 2 performance was stellar. A refresh rate of 165Hz leaves more to be desired if you’re a serious professional competitive gamer, but still, 165Hz at QHD resolution is in no way a compromise.

Cyberpunk 2077 has the best HDR and the game looks just breathtaking on the HyperX Armada 27. The GeForce RTX 4080 in our system feels like a match made in heaven for the Armada. GSYNC makes everything look just so smooth and slick. Cyperpunk has some of the best HDR implementation and this monitor brings out the best of the game.

The Armada 27 is a 165Hz monitor and it fills the screen in about 6ms. Most monitors that offer this refresh rate fill the screen in 7ms. The difference is small, but very noticeable. The override engine in the monitor is the best in its class, and we feel is very close to a 240 Hz monitor. The Armada 27 punches above its weight in whatever aspect we look at it in.

The HyperX Armada fits the requirements of creative professionals pretty well too. It covers 93% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which will please the content creators and everything that comes along with it.

A pixel density of 109ppi means that the Armada 27 is great for productivity tools like Excel. It is only when the monitor is some 5 centimetres from your eyes will you be able to make out the pixels. You won’t have any trouble reading tiny text and seeing highly detailed images.

The panel used by HyperX on the Armada 27 is of high-quality make and that becomes evident the moment you see how wide its viewing angles are. Screen uniformity is top notch, I couldn’t spot any variation in pure white, black, blue and red screens – analysed in both lit and dark conditions. It is without a doubt the Armada 27 is made of high quality parts in all of its aspects.

A pixel density of 109ppi means that the Armada 27 is great for productivity tools like Excel.

The HyperX Armada 27 has numerous adjustments available at your disposal, accessible via its OSD panel through the joystick at the back of the right side of the display. Response time can be set to five levels, with Level 3 providing smooth motion with no ghosting. HDR messes up with the backlight strobing at times, and this issue can be dealt with by turning on MPRT. There are five levels to choose from, with Level 3 being the sweet spot again, but costing you 25% brightness.

The OSD has a proper crosshair editor that allows you to building your own crosshair for FPS games. You can chose the kind of crosshair you want and set it to any position on the screen as you like. Now that is a unique and “pro” feature.

Should You Buy The Armada 27?

The HyperX Armada 27 is the only monitor on the market that offers the full wall/table mounting arm. On face value, that doesn’t sound like a major thing, but it is. Wall mounting monitors are rare and you will only see them in the higher price ranges to the tune of INR 50,000 and above. You should try a monitor mounted setup, it is really good. I find it hard to go back to the table ones. Apart from this aspect, the HyperX Armada 27 is a great monitor in all aspects, be it gaming, productivity, content creation, esports or content consumption. The performance of that 165Hz screen is super snappy, especially when teamed up with Nvidia G-SYNC. It’s colours are vivid, the HDR works really well too.

HyperX Armada 27 is a great monitor in all aspects, be it gaming, productivity, content creation, esports or content consumption

So is the Armada 27 the only monitor you will ever need? I think so. I have reviewed ton of monitors during my career as a games and tech journalist but the Armada 27 has managed to truly stand out in a way I never expected it to. It a fun monitor that does everything with high quality, what more could you ask for? The monitor is selling at INR 30,000 currently in the open markets, that price is steep, but considering what is being offered here, I would totally go for it.